Digging, Deliveries, & Fireplace

The storm sewer trenching and pipes are finally done.  The excavator still has to come back to do the rough grading.

The fireplace company came in today and put up the mantle, trim, and granite surround.  I can't wait to decorate it for the holidays.

All the cabinets, interior doors, closet doors, trim, and laundry sink countertop were also delivered today.  Next week they'll be installing it all and then the painters will come back to paint everything white.  They'll also do the second coat of paint everywhere when they come back.  It also looks like they delivered materials for the front porch posts and to make the back steps off the sliding glass door.

Laundry sink countertop

Next week is going to be exciting!!

More Paint and Digging

Today, we supplied a painter's assistant.

He was so excited to help paint his bedroom.  After a couple hours, he only had part of that same wall of the closet done, LOL.  It's okay, daddy painted the rest of the room.  The painter did trim the bedroom for them, which was very much appreciated.  Dylan is very anxious to get his new dinosaur room.

The painters got the first coat of Legend Tan on all the walls in the rest of the house.  Tomorrow is the last day for the painters for this first phase.  They'll come back later after the cabinets and trim are in.

The excavators did the storm sewer trenching in the front of the house and on the garage side.  They dug all the trenches this morning, but some storms came through around lunch.  They returned later today and finished it all.  The pipes in the front weren't finished due to the rain delay, so the crew will be back tomorrow to finish. 

Garage Floor drain

The excavators will also probably start the rough grading of the yard tomorrow. We needed a couple truck loads of dirt to do the front yard. Thankfully our development has a big dirt mound in the back from the other home construction projects. Free dirt! We just have to pay for the truck to haul it from around the corner.

Some of the windows' inside edges are banged up.  We think it may be because contractors were using them to move 2x4s and other items in and out of the house.  I have to admit, I am pretty upset about it.  They're brand new windows for a brand new house.  They should be perfect and shiny :).  One window in the sunroom has a gash in it.  The others just have the white paint rubbed off the wood trim.  My husband talked to Doug about it today and he was upset that it happened.  He's going to talk to the contractors and make sure it doesn't happen on other houses.  Then the painter is going to sand and paint them so they look perfect again.  I don't think the one in the sunroom will be 100% fixed, but maybe they can make it less noticable.

We made our fourth trip to Home Depot this week.  The electrician will be in next week, so we had to get the ceiling fans for all the rooms.  We also opted to get our own laundry sink faucet versus buying the one Wayne Homes offered.  I'm surprised the credit card company hasn't marked our account for fraud by now.

Paint & Storm Sewer Continued

I took a vacation day from work today and was able to see the contractors in action.  We got there around 9:30 am and the painter already had the first coat on the kitchen and half bath walls and was starting the laundry room.  I have to say, I love the colors and am so glad we made the changes.  The kitchen looks awesome.  I love the dolphin gray so much, I had him paint the inside of my walk-in closet with it, too.  I don't think the pictures show the true colors very well.

Half Bath

Laundry Room

My Closet

This is day 2 of 3 for the excavators.  The trench to catch basin was dug today.  They had to hand-dig past the utility lines.  They ran the storm sewer line pipe from the sunroom down the side of the master bedroom side of the house.  Tomorrow they'll trench and install the pipe in the front of the house and side of the garage.

pipe under the bundle of utility lines



Paint & Storm Sewer Trenching

I picked out the paint colors today.  Are you surprised that it took me less than 24 hours?  I am!  We're keeping the Legend Tan everywhere except the following:

Corn Silk-Kitchen & Breakfast room

Sea Spray-Laundry Room

Dolphin Gray-Half Bath

You can only order this blue color through Target's website.  I bought Dylan new bedding there and this color was on the package as a suggestion.  So I took the label to Home Depot and they color-matched it for me.  I think it turned out a tad lighter, but it'll do.

Benjamin Moore Blue Moon-Dylan's Room

Today the painter did the ceilings and started the tan in a few corners.  The ceilings are looking pretty smooth, but I hope he's planning on doing another coat.  In the kitchen and entryway, you can see the mudding.  He said he'd probably be done by Friday.

The excavator came back today to do the storm sewer trenching.  Most houses have a pipe to connect to out at the street.  But we're special, which translates into expensive.  There is no pipe in front of our house.  We have to tie-in to the back of a catch basin, which is in the next door neighbor's front yard.

The excavator had to rent a saw and drill that could break through the concrete back of the basin and make the connection.  Since this was different then how most storm sewer connections are made, it was not in the original estimate, so this is an additional expense.  It took them about two hours to get the trench dug behind the catch basin since it is near all the buried utility lines and had to be done carefully.  One guy worked on the back of the catch basin.  A second guy spray painted the layout of the storm sewer lines and where each downspout, along with the garage drain and sump pump line would tie in.

Catching Up

Last week was mainly the drywall mudding through Saturday, so we saved all the little things that also happened for this post. 

Wednesday night 7/11 around 9:30 pm, I emailed Jenn about the brown keystone.  We were expecting an answer some time Thursday.  Nope, Jenn emailed me back within 10 minutes and was in the process of contacting Todd.  Within 30 minutes, I had another email saying it would be taken care of.  Obviously it wasn't an emergency, but Wayne Homes employees seem to pride themselves on addressing issues as soon as possible.  This has been something we've noticed with every single WH employee.  Doug got back from vacation today and noticed it as well.  He called the masons too, who had also heard from Todd.  Apparently there are only 2 keystone colors--brown and light gray.  Why they chose the brown is beyond all of us.  Regardless, it will be fixed.

Wednesday they also put in the blown-in insulation. Sorry no pictures.

Saturday 7/14, the gas line was trenched and connected to the house.  The main gas line is the only utility that wasn't on our side of the street. The gas company had to go under the street and run a trench to the house and connect it to where the plumber left the connection on the side of the house.  Dominion East Ohio Gas will do this all for free up to 200 feet.

Here are some pictures of the final mudding.  The brown subfloor is now white with all the dust.

Great Room

Breakfast Room

back kitchen wall-hallway to laundry room & Dylan's room

Garage

Master bath shower

Today, Monday 7/16, the sanders came in and sanded the joint compound.  They will also clean up everything in preparation for the painter tomorrow.  There's A LOT of drywall dust everywhere and clumps of dropped joint compound on the floor. 

My husband talked to the painter today.  He will be at our house tomorrow.  During our color selection  meeting back in March, I picked Legend Tan to be on all the walls.  The other choices were variations of white or tan.  Wayne Homes said we could work directly with the painter if we wanted different colors anywhere.  Tonight we went to Home Depot since they have Glidden paint and we picked a bunch of color cards.  I'm thinking about the following colors, but not sure.  If you know me, I don't make decisions like this quickly, but I don't have a choice, so wish me luck.  I've got a big stack of cards sitting in front of me right now. 

Legend Tan

Dolphin Gray for the half bath? It's a grayish purple.

Slate Green for fireplace accent wall or kitchen

Dusty Miller for fireplace accent wall or kitchen
-a tad lighter than Slate Green